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Our Connection to the Torah on Shavuos

Rabbi Moshe Binyamin Friedman, Rosh Yeshiva

The Mishnah Brurah סימן תצ׳׳ד ס׳ א׳ brings the minhag to stay up Leil Shavuos to learn the whole night. He quotes the reason for this minhag from the Magen Avraham “שישראל היו ישנים כל הלילה והוצרך הקב׳׳ה להעיר אותם לקבל התורה”. ּBnei Yisrael slept the whole night before matan torah. Hashem had to wake them up in order to accept the Torah. Therefore, in order to rectify this mistake we stay up all night learning and waiting to receive the Torah. It is difficult to understand how our most important minhag on Shavuos is predicated on a story that happened by the original Kaballas Hatorah. One would assume that a widespread minhag for one of the yomim tovim would be based on some essential fundamental in Torah rather than as a tikkun for a mistake made in our past. Furthermore, the story itself is quite difficult. Are we truly meant to understand that the dor hadeah really slept late before kabbalas hatorah? And lastly, the Mishnah Brurah brings from the Ari’zal that anyone who does not sleep leil Shavuos and instead learns, is ensured to live out the year and will not be harmed in any way. What makes staying up the whole night to learn so significant that it comes with such an incredible guarantee? We must contemplate how this mistake and our yearly resolution to stay awake the whole night is significant for the essence of our Kaballas Hatorah. 

It is well documented that Maran R’ Chaim Kaniesky זצ׳׳ל would wake up very early every morning to learn for hours and sleep very little every day. Yet, it is well documented that R’ Chaim would also continue to learn during his sleep. The story goes that one year during the nine days R’ Chaim woke up and asked for someone to bring him a glass of wine. His grandson, puzzled by R’ Chaim wanting to drink the prohibited wine during the nine days, asked R’ Chaim why he had made such an odd request. R’ Chaim answered that he had just finished learning a masechta (in his sleep), and would proceed to make a siyyum, necessitating the wine to drink afterwards. But this begs the question – If R’ Chaim continued to learn in his sleep, why then would he bother to so aggressively minimize his sleep?

The Gemara שבת דף פ׳׳ח states that when Moshe Rabbeinu went to Har Sinai to receive the Torah, the malachim objected to it being given to the yiddin in the physical world. Hashem implored Moshe Rabbeinu to respond to their objection. To which he responded that malachim do not have the urge to worship avoda zarah, they do not have jealousy, parents to honor, melacha to refrain from on Shabbos, or even a yetzeir harah to fight. The Maharsha explains that the argument of the malachim was that the pnimius hatorah is only relevant to the spiritual realms of the world. They thought that it should therefore stay in shamayim which is completely spiritual. Moshe Rabbeinu responded that the more important effect of the Torah comes from learning doing mitzvos in the physical world. 

When a person goes to sleep, his neshama elevates to shamayim and he disconnects from this

 world. He is generally unable to do mitzvos and is exempt from them altogether. It is only while we are awake and our minds are able to be effective and learn torah that we accomplish its main purpose – to affect the world with our learning and mitzvos.

While R’ Chaim had such a strong connection to Torah that he could learn even while sleeping, that learning was only a manifestation of the pnimius hatorah of which the malachim were so enamored. The real effect of R’ Chaim’s Torah came only through the hard work and toil that he embodied by keeping himself awake as much as possible to learn. 

We can understand the mistake of bnei yisroel that before recieving the Torah they were not yet connected to it on the physical level that Moshe Rabbeinu spoke about with the malachim. After receiving the Torah it became imperative to connect to it in a more physical and worldly manner. By staying awake Shavuos night we maximize our kabalas hatorah by affecting the world actively through our tremendous toil. Similarly we disprove the theory of the malachim that the Torah is best suited to stay in shamayim, making the minhag to learn the whole night an integral part of our kaballas hatorah.

Shavuos and our Personal Kabalas Hatorah

Rabbi Yoni Grey, Maggid Shiur

The Shlah quotes the Tolaas Yaakov as saying that Shavuos is the Yom Hadin for Torah. At first glance this is quite difficult to understand, as we know that Rosh Hashanah is the Yom Hadin for all aspects of life. How are we to understand that although we were previously judged for our connection to the Torah on Rosh Hashanah, we are once again judged on Shavuos? Moreso, what is the significance of Shavuos that its judgment trumps the judgment of Rosh Hashanah?

We find a similar concept in the gemara (שבת פ׳׳ח), which states that although klal yisroel accepted the Torah by Har Sinai, since it was forced upon them, they were not yet able to be held fully accountable for their sins. Only once klal yisroel was mekabel the Torah once again in the days of Mordechai and Esther was the kabalas hatorah complete. We must understand what was missing from the original kaballas hatorah and what was subsequently added in the days of Purim.

The Amora R’ Yosef famously says (פסחים ס׳׳ח) אי לאו דהאי יומא דקא גרים כמה יוסף איכא בשוקא. If not for the day of Shavuos, I would be just like any other person named Yosef, and not the gadol hador, Rav Yosef. The implication of R’ Yosef’s statement is that there is a special power specifically to the day of Shavuos that allowed him to become the gadol that he was. Shavuos is the chag of matan torah. The original kabalas hatorah was lacking. Each and Every year we have the ability to expand upon the kabalas hatorah that was by making it our own, voluntary kaballas hatorah like when klal yisroel accepted the torah in the days of Purim because of an outpouring of love for God. 

The Torah is our life: “ki heim chayeinu v’orech yameinu uvahem nehge yomam valayla.” We are meant to toil in torah constantly – day and night. That which exemplifies one’s life cannot be stagnant – it must constantly grow and expand. Despite previously accepting the Torah by Har Sinai, klal yisroel was still able to grow in their connection to the Torah and reaccept it in the days of Mordechai and Esther. Similarly we must constantly grow in our personal kabalas hatorah. Therefore, even if we had already been judged on Rosh Hashanah for our commitment to Torah, this judgment is inherently subject to change. Such is the nature of a Jew’s connection to the Torah. On Shavuos we have the opportunity to commit and connect to the Torah in a way that we never previously thought possible. The koach of Shavuos is such that in one day we can change our connection to torah – our lives. Forever. May we all be zoche to such incredible heights.